April

“This is the direction technology is taking us, and we’re
looking to explore that,” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht in an interview with
CNBC.

Commenting on the overall industry, Albrech stated “I do think that people will
be able to, probably, create their own array of television or entertainment
choices. Whether they, you know, buy them individual apps or they’re companies
that deliver apps, that can be a sort of virtual MPVD service, this certainly
is the way of the future.”

Seeking to take on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video became a monthly service, also
with a $8.99/month cost.

“Because we have this unusual way to monetize the premium content, we can
charge less for the premium content than we would otherwise have to charge, if
we didn't have the flywheel spinning to help sell more shoes,” Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezos said.

May

It was also revealed that YouTube is planning
an online TV service for 2017 – “Unplugged” – which would seemingly compete
with skinny bundles and SVODs like Dish and PS Vue.

June

Harkening back to April, Lionsgate announced in June that it will be acquiring
Starz in a $4.4 billion deal.

“Chris Albrecht and his team have built a world-class
platform and programming leader, and we’re proud to marshal our resources in a
deal that accelerates our growth and diversification, generates exciting new
strategic content opportunities and creates significant value for our
shareholders,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer.

It will be intriguing to see if/how the movie studio utilizes Starz streaming technology
to distribute original film and television content.